Past Vulnerability
Vulcanic Eruptions and Human Vulnerability in Traditional Societies Past and Present
Published on 31. December 2015
279 pages
978-87-7184-024-7 (ISBN)
Description
Volcanic eruptions can affect everything--nature, wildlife, people. From the earliest times, human resilience has been tested by this most severe environmental hazard resulting in a variety of collective responses--from despair and helplessness to endurance, increased worship of the gods, and even mass migrations. Past Vulnerability breaks new ground by examining the histories of extreme environmental events, from the resent eruptions of Mount Merapi in Central Java to the prehistoric Toba supervolcanic eruption 74,000 years ago on the island of Sumatra. Experts from a broad and unconventional range of disciplines--from anthropology to literature studies and from archaeology to theology--discuss the impacts of volcanic eruptions in human history and prehistory. The book sets the scene for a 'palaeosocial volcanology' that complements and extends current approaches to volcanic hazards in the natural and social sciences by presenting historically informed and evidence-based analyses on how traditional societies dealt with these dangers--or failed to do so.
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Felix Riede
Past Vulnerability
Volcanic Eruptions & Human Vulnerability in Traditional Societies Past & Present
Book
01/2016
Aarhus University Press
€62.09
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Content
Chapter 1 Between the Queen of the South Sea and the Spirit of Mount Merapi - political and cosmological dimensions of the Central Java earthquake in 2006 Chapter 2 Mount Etna, Sicily: Vulnerability and Resilience during the pre-Industrial era Chapter 3 The unknown AD 1275 stratospheric eruption: Climatic Impacts in Europe and tentative volcanic source Chapter 4 What happens when 'Hider' and 'Screamer' go sailing with 'Noisy'? Geomythological traces in Old Icelandic mythology Chapter 5 Volcanoes as cultural artefacts in Iceland: Risk perception, metaphors and categorisation in a society with no 'before' Chapter 6 Excavating the Fimbulwinter? Archaeology, geomythology and the climate event(s) of AD 536 Chapter 7 Islam on Volcanoes: Rediscovering volcanic eruptions in the Qur'an Chapter 8 Coping with Disasters in Antiquity and the Bible: Practical andmental strategies Chapter 9 The Santorini volcano: Volcanic hazards through time Chapter 10 The Boneless One and his home: The sea and its inhabitants in religious beliefs on Crete and Thera around 1613 BC Chapter 11 Can we date the Frog Princess? Volcanoes and peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Chapter 12 The Days of the Dry Snow: Vulnerabilities and transformations related to the Mazama ash fall on the Northern Plains Chapter 13 'Dominant' and 'radical' perspectives on material culture change in the wake of the catastrophic Laacher See volcanic eruption (c. 13,000 cal BP) in Northern Europe Chapter 14 Human vulnerability in a Middle Palaeolithic context: Response of hunter-gatherers in India to the Toba supervolcanic eruption 74,000 years ago
